No Rest For The Weary – Part II
Wednesday July 12, 2006 – Prague 9:18 AM
We arrived in Prague around 12:30 Tuesday afternoon, traveling in a twin prop jet (which made me personally very nervous – but we landed!!) Our “meal” on the short flight consisted of a small drink and a jam cookie. That would have to last us several hours to come.
After landing, we went through customs, got our bags (yeah, not a single piece lost), exchanged some money and then we were greeted by a very friendly woman hired by Hartwick, whose name is pronounced Boo-Boo, but it is spelled BuBu (getting ahead again, we cannot help but look at her and say in our best Yogi Bear voice, “Hey Boo-boo!” We later learned that she was actually named after that same cartoon bear!! ) She checked our names off and directed us to the bus that would take us to our hotel.
Our hotel is about 45 minutes from the airport, a little out from the center of Prague. On our way to the hotel one word came to my mind as I took in the sights before me: GRAFITI! The buildings in the outskirts of the city are literally covered in graffiti! Almost every wall had been spray painted in some form or fashion. It was just mind-boggling…no care if it was on a bypass concrete divider or an important office building!! (I later learned that it has only been in the past 10 years or so that it has become a problem).
We came to our hotel and were in a few shocks, The main one, at least for me, was that there is no obvious way to get on the internet even though their website says we can, This is one reason why my blog has been so delayed! The next huge shock is that there is no air conditioning! In Europe that is a fairly common thing, but it was for some reason not expected by us. Whew and it is an unseasonably warm week! Just our luck!
The other surprise is that double occupancy means double bed. So my roommate, Carol Loar, and I have to share a bed, in the heat! We have been leaving the windows wide open, and I do mean wide since there is no such thing as screens either.
Many of our rooms happen to face and be right next to a train station of some sort, so all night long, since you have to keep the windows open wide, you hear trains passing that sound as if they are transporting broken bottles or cans…it is so loud and noisy…but I am getting ahead of myself.
Despite the new surprises, we had a little time to take a shower (a space so tiny you can hardly turn around in) before we had to leave for our first event, the trip to Zbiroh Castle.
Loading 4 buses to transport the 200+ people on the trip, we drove an hour from the hotel for the castle. By this time we are all extremely exhausted, having been up for about 30 hours. We arrive at the castle, get off the bus, and then led by a group of medieval musicians, trek about a mile up a winding gravel path through the woods to the castle.
It was so very hot, we were so tired and very thirsty as well when we reached the top of the path. We were greeted by servers carrying trays of beer, wine, juice and water for us to choose from. Next, we saw a falcon demonstration, followed by a medieval sword fight. We were then ushered inside the castle into a beautifully painted hall, where we were treated to an amazing group, Dubai Fortuna and some dancers. They were phenomenal, the highlight of the long day!
Finally a little after 8, we were all led into a room for a buffet of cold cuts and bread, pickled vegetables and drinks. Outside they cooked BBQ chicken, rice and of course, pork, THE meat here!
After more music, dancing, and fire-twirling jugglers, we loaded up the buses and finally got back to the hotel to sleep…some 38 hours later. What a few days!
Renee
We arrived in Prague around 12:30 Tuesday afternoon, traveling in a twin prop jet (which made me personally very nervous – but we landed!!) Our “meal” on the short flight consisted of a small drink and a jam cookie. That would have to last us several hours to come.
After landing, we went through customs, got our bags (yeah, not a single piece lost), exchanged some money and then we were greeted by a very friendly woman hired by Hartwick, whose name is pronounced Boo-Boo, but it is spelled BuBu (getting ahead again, we cannot help but look at her and say in our best Yogi Bear voice, “Hey Boo-boo!” We later learned that she was actually named after that same cartoon bear!! ) She checked our names off and directed us to the bus that would take us to our hotel.Our hotel is about 45 minutes from the airport, a little out from the center of Prague. On our way to the hotel one word came to my mind as I took in the sights before me: GRAFITI! The buildings in the outskirts of the city are literally covered in graffiti! Almost every wall had been spray painted in some form or fashion. It was just mind-boggling…no care if it was on a bypass concrete divider or an important office building!! (I later learned that it has only been in the past 10 years or so that it has become a problem).
We came to our hotel and were in a few shocks, The main one, at least for me, was that there is no obvious way to get on the internet even though their website says we can, This is one reason why my blog has been so delayed! The next huge shock is that there is no air conditioning! In Europe that is a fairly common thing, but it was for some reason not expected by us. Whew and it is an unseasonably warm week! Just our luck!
The other surprise is that double occupancy means double bed. So my roommate, Carol Loar, and I have to share a bed, in the heat! We have been leaving the windows wide open, and I do mean wide since there is no such thing as screens either.
Many of our rooms happen to face and be right next to a train station of some sort, so all night long, since you have to keep the windows open wide, you hear trains passing that sound as if they are transporting broken bottles or cans…it is so loud and noisy…but I am getting ahead of myself.
Despite the new surprises, we had a little time to take a shower (a space so tiny you can hardly turn around in) before we had to leave for our first event, the trip to Zbiroh Castle.
Loading 4 buses to transport the 200+ people on the trip, we drove an hour from the hotel for the castle. By this time we are all extremely exhausted, having been up for about 30 hours. We arrive at the castle, get off the bus, and then led by a group of medieval musicians, trek about a mile up a winding gravel path through the woods to the castle.
It was so very hot, we were so tired and very thirsty as well when we reached the top of the path. We were greeted by servers carrying trays of beer, wine, juice and water for us to choose from. Next, we saw a falcon demonstration, followed by a medieval sword fight. We were then ushered inside the castle into a beautifully painted hall, where we were treated to an amazing group, Dubai Fortuna and some dancers. They were phenomenal, the highlight of the long day!
Finally a little after 8, we were all led into a room for a buffet of cold cuts and bread, pickled vegetables and drinks. Outside they cooked BBQ chicken, rice and of course, pork, THE meat here!
After more music, dancing, and fire-twirling jugglers, we loaded up the buses and finally got back to the hotel to sleep…some 38 hours later. What a few days!
Renee
posted by Renee @ 7/21/2006 05:29:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home